This is the official blog of the Nigeria-based Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), a human rights organization which promotes, protects and projects the rights of Muslims. This group condemns terrorism and all acts of violence. Its motto is 'Dialogue, Not Violence'

Monday, February 23, 2015

Nigerian troops have within one week succeeded
in liberating several communities earlier overrun and occupied by Boko Haram
insurgents. Residents of those communities have also started returning home.

The insurgents seem to have met their
Waterloo as many of them are fleeing. Some allegedly drowned in the Lake Chad
as they tried to escape. The turn of events at the war front has prompted
President Jonathan to declare that Shekau would be captured before the
elections.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is
elated at this positive development. We commend our gallant soldiers for
beating the insurgents in their game. We are particularly pleased with the
liberation of Baga and other communities. We urge the Nigerian
military not to relent until all communities occupied by the hoodlums are
liberated. Not even one inch of Nigerian territory should be left for them.

Nonetheless, we are irked by both the
speed and the ease with which the military is overrunning the insurgents. We
are tempted to ask, “Are these the same Nigerian soldiers who reportedly took
to their heels at the approach of insurgents? How did this transformation come
about?”

Here lies the difference between might
and will. Nigerian soldiers have always been bold and daring. They
were merely waiting for the Federal Government (FG) to manifest the political
will.

Now that FG has awoken from its deep
slumber and it has given our soldiers the green light to rout the insurgents, we
call for caution in the euphoria of victory. The urge to seize Shekau alive may
lead to another controversy. This is a man whom the Nigerian military claimed
to have killed several times. Nigerian security agencies had also sworn that
the Shekau appearing in video clips these days is a fake one.

So which Shekau do we want to capture
alive now? The real one or the fake? If indeed either is captured, it will only
add to the controversy. If the original Shekau is captured, then the military
who claimed to have killed him lied to Nigerians albeit inadvertently. If the fake is captured,
he is capable of throwing the whole country into greater controversy.

The passion with which Aso Rock
expresses the possible capture of Shekahu within one week is therefore curious,
if not disturbing.

We warn that the propaganda machinery of
both Boko Haram and the Islamic State (ISIS) is highly sophisticated. A
captured fake Shekau is capable of planting seeds of discord within the
Nigerian polity via ‘confessional’ statements extracted from him. He can easily
be used for political ends. This may be too dangerous.

Nigerians will be too glad to know
Shekau has been killed or captured. But nobody should contemplate using the
seizure of either a fake or original Shekau to implicate political opponents.

Both the ruling party and the
opposition have played too much politics with the issue of Boko Haram. Let
Shekau die. But don’t give us a fake Shekau to score cheap political points.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

The Nigerian National Assembly (NASS) resumed yesterday (Wednesday 18th
February 2015) amidst rumours of an advanced plot aimed at extending the tenure
of President Jonathan, thereby scuttling the 2015 polls.

Members of Senate and the House of Representatives are allegedly being
lobbied to support a six-month extension in the first place. This will later be
extended by two years as the regime digs in. Senators and representatives who
failed to clinch a return ticket during the primaries are allegedly showing
interest in the grand plan.

The
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) joins other well-meaning Nigerians, true patriots
and genuine democrats to warn against this diabolical plot. It is nothing short
of a coup against the people of Nigeria and a sabotage of what Rousseau called
the General Will.

With the exemption of a few bootlickers and court jesters, Nigerians are
eager to vote come March 28 and April 11. It is rather unfortunate that the
Presidency seeks to uphold Napoleon Bonaparte’s postulate that the only lesson
which men learn from history is that they learn nothing from history.

Or how
else can we describe the present maneuvers from Nigeria’s seat of power against
the backdrop of the June 12 imbroglio and the subsequent chaos that dragged
Nigeria back by several decades.

Without the fear of contradicting the Hegelian thesis that history always
repeats itself, we hasten to remind President Jonathan of the Marxist
antithesis adjudging the first repetition of history as a tragedy and the
second, a farce.

MURIC appeals to President Jonathan not to prove cynics right. The excuse
given for postponing the election (security) was dismissed by many as a ruse.
It will be too bad if this plot is true. It had better not be.

It
is not the winners of elections or their losers that emerge heroes among leaders
but those who are most adaptable to change, those who play the game according to the rules, those who
respect the rule of law, those who choose honour and integrity and those who
shun the tempting songs of power.

We charge members of the NASS to stand on the right side of
history where their names will be written in letters of gold. We remind the
honourable members that whereas the courage to sell one's conscience is cheap,
the will to take a principled stand is worth a governor's ransom.

If it is true that President Jonathan has repeatedly told
Nigerians that March 28, April 11 and May 29 are sacrosanct, then we must not
be hearing this type of rumour. We invite Mr. President to fear God, the source
of all power.

To prove that he is a true Christian, President Jonathan
mustkeep faith with Numbers 30:2
where the Bible says, “When a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to
bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to
all that proceeds from his mouth”.

To be or not to be? That is the question. Whether President
Jonathan is prepared to prove to Nigerians that he is a good Christian and
therefore worthy of the responsibility of leadership of about 170 million
Nigerians will be largely tied to his readiness to keep a date with the March
28, April 11 elections and the May 29 inauguration.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Several campaign offices and posters of the Peoples’
Democratic Party (PDP) were allegedly vandalized and torched in Maiduguri,
Borno State yesterday during the presidential campaign rally of the ​All
Progressives Congress​, APC.

The Muslim
Rights Concern (MURIC) takes strong exception to this act of recklessness and
unprovoked aggression. We commend the security agencies for exercising
restraint in the face of such lawless behavior.

It is unfortunate that, 55 years after independence,
Nigeria still wallows in a barbaric political culture. The current trend of political violence is repulsive,
despicable and alarming. This trend is characterized by physical attacks on
members of other political parties, vandalisation, arson and even murder.

The spectacle is
disturbing because of its capability to discourage the injection of new blood
into the political system. Elites and youths who have good ideas about moving
Nigeria forward are most likely to be pissed off politics by the ugly
phenomenon. The end result is the endless recycling of Stone Age politicians
who are only marketable for their nuisance value.

The fact that the orgy of violence involves mainly the
two main contending parties, the ruling party, PDP and the main opposition
party, APC is quite instructive. It gives stakeholders an area of
concentration.

MURIC is optimistic that the trend can still be reversed
if the police, elder statesmen, religious leaders, traditional rulers and other
stakeholders call leaders of the PDP and APC to order now. We are aware that
the Nigerian Police has organized peace meetings among political parties in
most states of the federation. We commend the police for initiating this move.

But just as the police alone cannot maintain security
without the active support of the citizens, the police alone cannot
successfully perform the task of peace-making in a political process. There is
urgent need to involve people who can influence the citizenry.

We therefore
charge elder statesmen, religious leaders, traditional rulers and other
stakeholders to take up the challenge immediately by calling leaders of the PDP
and APC to roundtables.

This must be done urgently before the elections.
Nigerians are on edge. Many people are afraid of travelling or even moving
around the city for fear of being caught between two hostile political groups.

MURIC affirms
that the offenders must not go scot free.Beginning with the Maiduguri thugs but
not limiting action to the ugly event, those responsible for acts of violence
must be made to face the wrath of the law. Political parties whose supporters
are clearly and unambiguously identified as being responsible for violent
attacks on other parties should be made to repair damaged properties or pay
compensation.

Finally, we remind politicians and the rest of the
citizens that it is high time Nigerian politicians evolved a civilized
political culture which must be characterized by maturity, tolerance of
opposition and the adoption of a liberal attitude towards elections instead of
the current desperado politics whose only dogma is ‘do or die’.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Armed policemen
surrounded the residence of Shehu Garba, the Director of Media and Publicity of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organization on
Thursday, 12th February, 2015. As a result of the siege, Shehu
Garba, who lives at the NNPC Quarters, Area 11, Abuja, could not go to the
mosque for the Salat as-Subh, a mandatory early morning worship for
Muslims.

The Muslim Rights
Concern (MURIC) is deeply worried about the recent siege mentality. We remind Nigerians
that soldiers numbering about thirty (30) have been stationed very close to the
Lagos residence of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, national leader of the APC, for the
past four days. Soldiers also recently desecrated the sanctity of the Imo State
Government House in Owerri.

We are worried about the
use of security agencies to intimidate and harass the opposition. How can elections be
free and fair when security agents hound leaders of the opposition left, right
and center? This siege on the opposition appears to be aimed at disorienting opposition
parties to the advantage of the ruling party. These are Gestapo tactics which
should not feature at all in a nascent democracy.

It is therefore clear
that Nigerian security agencies are in an unholy alliance with the ruling
party. Otherwise why are the security agencies always after the opposition? President
Jonathan also seems to be revealing his despotic tendencies.

He cannot
stomach opposition. Neither can he superintend a free and fair election without
being closely monitored, mentored and restrained from committing illegalities.

MURIC therefore charges
the National Assembly (NASS) to be alert to its responsibilities. There are checks and
balances in a democracy and NASS must move urgently to check the excesses of
the Nigerian Head of State.

In his recent media chat, President Jonathan
refused to condemn militants (his kinsmen) who have been threatening war should
Jonathan lose the election. In the same vein, the President is not willing to
call overzealous security officials to order. NASS must save Jonathan from
Jonathan as part of its oversight functions.

We appeal to the
European Union monitors who are already in the country to pay close attention
to the harassment of opposition leaders by the Nigerian security agencies. We
invite the United Nations and Nigeria’s West African neighbours to quickly send
their own monitors for the same purpose.

To certain quarters
which are attempting to blackmail us into silence by accusing us of partisanship,
we reiterate that MURIC is an apolitical, faith-based human rights
organization. Our interest lies in steering Nigeria towards good governance.

We
are inspired by the injunction contained in Qur’an 8:24 which says, “Beware of
a calamity which will not affect only those who commit the evil…”

We therefore see
ourselves either as an integral part of the likely beneficiaries of good
governance or possible victims of bad governance. This is why we speak up.

We
are also motivated by Qur’an 3:104 which says, “Let there arise among you a
people inviting unto righteousness and forbidding wrongdoing.”

Available records show
that we have been playing this role in Nigeria since the establishment of our
organization in 1994 spanning several military and civilian regimes. We have no
doubt that this role will continue in post-Jonathan years.

Therefore neither
the ruling party nor President Jonathan is our target. It is normal for human
rights groups to focus their attention on the activities of government and the
security agencies. It is all aimed at creating a better society for all.